Setting Up An eBay Shop

You've been selling some of your stuff on eBay for a while now. It brings in a bit of money, is fun to do and you'd like to take it on to the next level, perhaps even start your own home business of buying and selling. But where do you start?

Setting up an online shop on eBay is easier than you think. Our quick guide will show you just how simple it can be to make money selling in various online shops when starting a home-based business!

eBay Advantages

First of all - what are the advantages of opening a shop on eBay, as opposed to just listing everything separately, as you are currently doing, or even just selling your products on your own home business website?

You can also find out how our very own iHubbub iStore works so we can help you promote your products or services!

Making Money Selling In Online Shops

Money, according to eBay! '75% of eBay Shop sellers surveyed said that opening an eBay Shop increased their sales.' So, a really good reason to start with - more income! By opening a shop, eBay provides you with some really effective tools to help you manage your business more effectively, including marketing, help to manage your costs, and analysis of your keywords and visitor traffic. With this knowledge at your fingertips, sales can only increase.

Design Of Your Online Shop

The site will also help you design and build your start-up business shop to make it look professional and welcoming. By becoming a shop owner eBay will also include your brand in their listings, which they don't do to everybody.

Traffic

Over 17 million unique visitors enter eBay every month - that's a lot of potential customers ready and waiting for you to show them what you are selling!

Setting Up

Let's chat a litte about all the set up involved in your own online shop because you may decide to do your own website or take advantage of the traffic and customers you'll get from existing online shops.

What You Need

It's simple. As long as you have a minimum eBay feedback score of 10, and you're also verified by PayPal, then you're good to go to open a Basic Shop. To open the other, more advanced shops then you will need to be registered as an eBay Business Seller, and have a certain Detailed Seller Rating.

eBay have written a useful Comparison Chart on their site to help you decide which kind of shop would be the most suitable for you. There are also lists of what you can and can't sell on eBay as well - double check your items carefully.

Creating Your Shop

Have a look at other shops that sell similar products to you. See what they've done with their layout and organisation. If you see something good, apply it to your own shop, but give it some extra ooomph, to ensure you stand out from the rest.

What's In A Name?

This is important - however much you like a name doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to be an effective selling tool. You may think that 'Squirrel's Nest' is a lovely, cosy name for your gift shop but how are search engines going to find you when people are searching for the products that you sell? Your shop name should tell prospective visitors exactly what it is you sell.

Payments And Fees

eBay uses PayPal, which uses the internet to transfer payments. It's quick and secure, and saves you the bother of having to deal with credit or visa card transactions. Buyers can pay for their items as soon as they've bought them, so all you have to do is send it to them.

Of course, you pay a fee to eBay every month to gain access to all this, but hopefully this will be absorbed by the benefits your new selling technique will bring you! There are three different levels of shop on eBay - from a basic one at £14.99 a month for the new seller, rising to an Anchor Shop for high-volume sellers which will cost you £349.99 a month.

Obviously for that kind of money you get maximum visibility on eBay, and advanced business tools at your fingertips.

On top of the monthly fee, you also have to think about the listing fees for each product, the final value fee you pay when somebody buys it, and the PayPal fee for processing the transaction. Keep these in mind when you are setting your prices, to make sure you see a profit from each sale.

Promote, Promote, Promote!

eBay provides you with the ability to send out an email newsletter to anybody who has already bought from you, or people who browse your store. Use this to promote special offers, new products or just items of interest.

Make sure you link your existing website to your eBay shop; you can offer exclusive discounts this way, which is a surefire way to increase sales!

You can also sell via our iStore - as one of our members you can sell your handmade or homemade home business products or freelance services.